Prior Engagement..Previous Committment

I was asking God for wisdom the other day.
You would think this is a daily occurrence, being the mother of four young men… and you would be right.
However, there are specific moments…seasons or stages that require more delicate surgery. The scalpel must be sharp and the cuts, precise. This involves more than practical wisdom…more like divine words mixed with divine atmosphere and angelic intercession.
It takes this to raise a child to respectful manhood.
God help us all.

Thank God he does.

Poetry book in hand, my eldest reclines with one leg over the arm of the chair next to the fire.
Percy Bysshe Shelley is on tap. A wounded man to be sure.
The topic of manhood comes up, with all it attending topics… dating, divorce…affairs and so on and so forth.
This is ample fodder for the teenage mind…and deep waters for mother dear.
Statistics are against us.
This is the information generation.
The kids of today know far more than I do…and have experienced far more of the Dark Side than I ever will.
Visually and experientially.
So what do you tell a seventeen year old?
How do you challenge him?
How do you motivate him?

With Jesus.

Of course.

For sure.

But how?

The consummate lover.

I stood leaning against the railing looking down into my family room at my son and the words flowed….

Out there somewhere is a girl.
Your future wife.
She is yours…already.
You are hers.

Live it.

Rise each morning…talk to your maker about her.
Call her forth.
Love her.
Bend your back to hard work for her.
Bend your mind to education and study.
Pour out your heart for her.
Search out the heart of God.

Pray.

Love.

Before.

As if.

She was fully yours and you were hers.

As I write this my heart leaps.
I know this is the center of truth.
This is how God is with us.

Loved…before.

Before we knew.

Completely.

Each sunrise…a spectacular display.
Each sunset a kaleidoscope.
Each flower a captivating aroma…
Each waterfall a cascade…an outpouring.

Tell her…write to her… tell her that you loved her long before you met her.
Hold yourself ready… to lavish love upon her.
Keep yourself ready…to receive her love.
Do not stray.
Fix your mind and heart and body on this one thing.
On your beloved.

The lover is constant…ever ready...anticipating.
Can’t you feel it?
You know it.
Deeper in.
Farther in.

Breathe.

There it is…

I saw it.
The moment it clicked.
Behind his eyes.
The sorrow first.
Of so much time passed...and spent on self.
The gravity of the moment...I am not my own.
The brightness of the future...have you seen my beloved?

It was all there…

And then…arms wrapped tightly around me …he thanks me.
And I breathe deep….a divine breath to be sure.

For this I was born…for this I was made.

My son can now say:

“Sorry, I have a prior engagement…a previous commitment….no I don’t know her…but I am still committed to her. She has my heart….and I have hers.
I am my Father’s son.”